


When in Love...Run

by MaldaineD



Category: Batman - Fandom, DC Comics, Superman - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaldaineD/pseuds/MaldaineD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim tells Conner that he loves him, and Conner, in most glorious fashion, runs away.  Needless to say, the Bat-family is not particularly pleased with the Cloneboy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When in Love...Run

"I love you."

It was such a simple phrase, but it was powerful enough to bring even the strongest of men to their knees, or at the very least make their jaw slack and their heads tilt.

"Oh..."

Conner Kent wasn't quite prepared to hear the phrase slip from Tim Drake's lips. He was aware that the reaction he had made was probably not the best, but at the same time, his mind shut off and he could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. His fingers were tingly, his chest tight, and he could feel the heat of his cheeks radiating. If he didn't know any better, he might have thought he was having a heart attack, but he didn't even know if Kryptonians could have heart attacks (or clones of Kryptonians).

"Say something other than 'oh...'"

"I, I have to go," Conner said as he stood up and walked towards the door of Tim's room. 

There was such a tight feeling, his heart racing so much that he thought that he needed medical attention. The room was spinning and he knew the only way he could make himself feel better was for with quick flight, and so, before he knew what he was doing, he was rushing down the stairs, saying goodbye to Alfred (though he didn't even remember doing it), and then taking off into the night sky. The rush of the wind, the chill in the air, and the moon above the clouds helped to relieve him of some of the pressure he felt in his chest, enough to make him think.

"Oh..." he said again when he realized that he was somewhere over Kansas, nearly back to his home. 

There were sixteen text messages on his phone, seven missed calls, and three voicemails. He hadn't even realized that his phone had gone off once.

"Oh god, oh god, oh no. You dummy, you really messed things up this time!"

Should he turn around? Just the thought caused that tightness in his chest to well up again, and he nearly fell out of the sky, his hands shaking and his feet going numb, he had to land on the ground for a moment to calm down before he could even take off again. Was this that whole 'cold feet' sensation that Ma and Pa told him about when they talked about their wedding?

Before he even knew what he was doing, Conner was pushing open the old screen door of the Kent Farm house, and started climbing the stairs to his room.

"Conner? Is that you? I just finished making some jam! Would you like to be my test subject?" Martha asked.

"No, Ma. I just want to go to sleep," Conner said, his boots making heavy trudges up the stairs.

Jonathan Kent lowered the paper he was reading in the kitchen and looked over to his wife, her eyes meeting his in worry. Conner never turned down freshly made jam.

~~~

Jason scratched his stomach, the old shirt raised slightly, though he could have scratched through the countless holes. His hair was ruffled, and his eyes were red. His nap had been longer than he was expecting, and a midnight snack was just the thing to get him to go back to sleep and feel rested after about a 16 hour sleep cycle. He was a growing boy, and they needed food and sleep, and lots of it. After rubbing his nose with the top of his hand, he hit the last step and was almost to the kitchen; opening the door, his food hit a corn chip, and it was...slimy.

Looking up, confused, he saw that half of the food in the kitchen was laying across the counter, most of it half eaten, and despite the mess on the floor, each of the bags of chips, cookies, and the like were perfectly folded and arranged on the counter in the order they were usually found in the cupboard. 

Tim was sitting on a stool, spoon in a jar of peanut butter, slovenly licking what little was left on the spoon from the bottom of the jar. 

"Tim...buddy? You okay?" Jason said as he gingerly walked into the middle of the room.

A batarang flew across the room and hit the wall near Jason's head; Tim's dead-eyed stare at the wall and constant eating had closed him off to the world, and the sudden introduction of a voice caused him to react in a way that most of the bat family did when someone scared them. Thankfully, Tim's aim was off because he wasn't actually looking. 

"Oh, sorry. I'm, I'm not quite feeling myself today," Tim said. He hadn't really stopped looking at the wall. "I'll clean up the floor when I put the rest of the food away."

His eyes were red, puffy, and still leaking slightly. He sucked a bit of mucous back into his nose. Jason wasn't exactly sure how he managed to get food all over the floor, but he was certainly concerned enough to try and comfort his little brother. Then, with great haste, a thought came to his mind, of who'd been over earlier that night.

Jason pulled a handgun from the waist of his sweatpants and pulled the hammer back, "What did the clone do?"

~~~

"I think I need to go to the hospital," Kon said as he walked down the stairs. He was pale, his hands were shaking, and he was in a cold sweat. 

Jonathan and Martha looked at each other, then back at their son, standing quickly Martha went to bring him to the couch and Jonathan went to call Clark.

"Honey? What's wrong?" Martha asked as she held her palm over Conner's forehead to check his temperature; both of her boys ran hot, but he was actually feverish.

"I don't know. I just feel terrible, and my fingers are tingling, and my chest hurts, and I can barely breath...."

Jonathan relayed to Clark the symptoms that Conner was feeling, and Clark said he would be over as quickly as he could. It took less than ten minutes for the Kryptonian to rush through the door. He sat on the couch next to Conner and asked him again what was wrong, his clone repeating the same thing.

"And when did you start feeling like this?" Clark asked.

"Right after Tim told me he loved me," Conner said, instinctual, not thinking in the slightly.

"What?" All of the Kents (aside from Conner of course) said at once. 

~~~

"I'm going to kill him. I don't know how, but I'm gonna kill him," Jason said as he stuffed another chip in his mouth, taking in as many calories as he could so he could rally to action.

"Don't hurt him. I'm sure I just scared him off," Tim replied. 

"No one shuts you down like that, not when I've been resurrected. You're a catch, and I'm going to make him understand that. To the Batcave....."

Tim smiled. He liked the fact that Jason had taken more interest in his life since moving back in the the mansion, but at the same time, he was also glad that Jason was pretty lazy when he wanted to be, so the chances of him doing something radical was very slim, especially since he was between missions. When he wasn't out with Starfire or Roy, he was at his laziest. Tim was pretty sure that Jason had been wearing those same clothes for the last week and a half.

He'd thought things with Conner were going well. Time spent together on the battlefield, benefits for Wayne Enterprises, and lots of cuddling. They'd even had sex for the first time about a week ago, and it seemed like it was time to say it, especially since it was how he felt. Was it wrong of him to expect the same thing? They were still young, but even young people could know that they were in love. Tim had never said it to anyone but family before, and now he worried that it might affect him for quite awhile. The way Conner just left, the fact that he didn't return any of his calls or texts. 

"Did I blow it?" he wondered. 

Tim knew he could come on pretty strong....

~~

"So, that's a panic attack?" Conner said, sipping the cider that Martha gave him, a blanket around his shoulders.

"I guess so," Clark said. "Feel a little better?"

"Everytime I think about Tim, about just running out, that feeling comes back. I hate it."

"Why do you think you feel that way?"

"I don't know. Any wisdom you wish to impart, Superman?" Conner said with a weak smile. 

He turned and looked at Clark, and the man was looking down. Clark was a great parent (a sort of role that Conner had started looking towards him as), but Clark knew that he didn't have any sort of ideas how to handle this situation. He knew that he loved Lois from the moment he laid eyes on her, but even his first love, Lana, was very different from Tim Drake. He'd had a few romances, but this was Conner's first, and Conner wasn't that old, either. It was a slightly complicated topic, and Clark didn't know how to handle it in the slightest. Some Superman he...

"No, don't think 'some Superman I am...' because that's the face you're giving me right now," Conner said, cutting Clark's train of thought.

"We've come a long way, haven't we?"

"Yeah," Conner said, slowly leaning over and resting his head on Clark's shoulder. "Do you think I'm even capable of love?"

"How could you ask that? How do you feel about me? How do you feel about Ma, and Pa?"

"That's different...."

"A different kind of love, yeah, but love all the same. I've seen the way you give everything you can for the people of Metropolis, the world. That's love, Conner! To think you aren't capable of it, that someone isn't capable of loving you the same way, that's irresponsible, and I know you know better," Clark said, his arm wrapping around Kon's shoulder.

~~

"Why are we doing this again?" Dick asked, putting on his Nightwing costume and prepping his motorcycle.

"Conner hurt Tim in a way we can't let him forget, so we have to do something about it! I figured you, Dick Grayson, 'best oldest brother of all time', would understand," Jason said as he clasped the hood to the armor around his neck."

"So, your plan is to assault an old farm house in Kansas?"

"We have to do something!"

"I appreciate the plan," Damian said. He was lacing up his boots.

"Wait, who told him?" Jason asked, slowly craning his neck to look at Dick.

"I mean, you expected me NOT to invite the whole family? ...And do you guys really think I'm the best oldest brother?"

Jason shook his head as hard as he could, only to slap his face when Damian answered in the positive. Dicks ego was going to be through the roof for the next two weeks.

~~

"Barbara? It's late, are you okay?"

"Hey dad. Do you mind if I borrow some of your riot gear? I know, I know, I promised last time would be the last time, but something has come up and I just need it again for a school project," Barbara said. When she hung up the phone with Jim Gordon she reread the text message from Dick just to make sure it said what she thought it did.

~~

It was nearly an hour before Clark, Martha, and Jonathan could convince Conner just to go to sleep for the night. They agreed that sleeping on it would be better than dwelling on his actions that he took in the moment. While it was probably not a smart idea to leave Tim without any sort of response, the adults agreed that formulating a plan to talk to him was better than making any more reactionary decisions. With Conner sleeping soundly upstairs, Clark and his parents sat at the dining room table. Each had a coffee, Martha and Jonathan's decaf with plenty of cream and sugar.

"Poor kid," Jonathan said.

"He wondered if he was capable of love. What kind of question is that to ask himself?" Clark responded, looking at the black coffee in front of him. Usually he took his coffee the same as his parents, but he wasn't much for sugar tonight.

"Do you think it's us?" Martha asked.

"You're the best parents in the world. It's not you. Maybe it's me? I know I wasn't exactly there for him in the beginning, but I've been trying to make up for it."

"Clark, that boy loves you whether or not he knows how to articulate it," Jonathan pointed out. "After all, you were the one that was able to get him to calm down after the events of the night."

Clark just took a sip of his coffee, wondering if it was best to stay the night or fly back to Metropolis. After some quick deliberation, he wanted to make sure he was there for Conner in the morning, so he told his parents he was going to head upstairs and sleep. His parents followed soon after, Jonathan whistling for Krypto to come in, the dog happy that most of his family was there that night. The kryptonian dog pushed Conner's door open and slept at the foot of his bed for the rest of the night.

~~

Tim woke up the next morning, still no word from Conner. A pit in his stomach, probably from eating so much junk last night, he went down to the kitchen to grab something to fill the void. He wasn't sure that he wanted to eat any more, but his stomach growling told him otherwise. Usually one of the batfamily was to be found in the kitchen around this time, and given that it was almost 11am, it was more than likely Jason.

After an hour alone, he noticed that no one came downstairs to get anything. He ground some coffee, placed it on the pot, and hit the half-brew option, not wanting to drink an entire pot by himself. Alfred and Bruce were away on business, so there was no surprise that they weren't coming in and out of the kitchen, but Dick, Damian, and Jason all mysteriously absent?

"Where is everyone?" Tim asked himself as he poured his cup of coffee and decided to go to their rooms and check on them. Perhaps there was some party that he missed last night?

Dick's room was in some semblance of order, but the owner of the room was very absent. Jason's was a wreck, to the point that Tim could barely get the door open, but no thrown objects told him that he hadn't woken Jason up from one of his hungover slumbers. Damian's room was pristine, and the bedsheets were pulled so tightly you could bounce a quarter off them.

"Now I'm just getting concerned," Tim said aloud as he rushed out of Damian's room and to the Batcave. 

Inside, he found that Dick, Damian, and Jason's motorcycles were missing. Turning on the Bat-computer, he looked around, scanning for their tracers. It was unlike them to leave him out of some big mission if they got one. He picked up on where they were, their tracers showing that all three of them were in Kansas, and it looked like Barbara's tracker wasn't too far behind them, maybe only about twenty minutes away from them. Utterly confused for a second, Tim sat back and pondered what could have happened in Kansas....

"Oh god, no!"

~~~

"So, buy him the biggest bouquet of flowers you can, or something that you know he likes, and take it to him. Apologize, and tell him how you feel, if you realize how you feel about him now?" Lois said as she took a bite of her burger.

"You think that'll work?" Conner asked. His burger was half finished.

"No, but grovelling is the best thing you can do," Lois said with a sly grin, her eyes catching Clark's.

"I grovel," Clark pointed out.

"Yes, you do. It helps most of the time."

The three of them had gotten lunch together when Clark suggested that Conner come hang out with him in Metropolis to get his mind off the situation after the boy still didn't want to eat anything at breakfast. He was torn up inside, and every time he thought about Tim, he got that feeling again. That sick to his stomach, fingers tingling, heart-attack feeling.

"Have you ever thought that the reason you feel like that is because you actually love him back," Lois said.

"What?" Conner asked. The feeling suddenly went away.

"Maybe you're nervous because this is a big step, and let's be honest, you're a bit new to the world, so you don't really know how to handle it."

Clark and Conner just looked at Lois, and Lois looked back at them, french fry in hand. She bit it in half, and she laughed.

Conner just looked down at his burger for a moment, then to Clark, then back to the burger. Was it really so simple? He had to admit that one of the things that brought him the most pain was when he recalled the way that Tim looked right before he walked out on him. Conner couldn't stand the thought of Tim sad. He pondered the way that he was actually interested in listening to Tim explain some complicated math formula, or how he could get Conner to do his homework without grumbling. Conner even thought about that night they shared a week ago, a night he was not about to share with anyone at his house for obvious reasons. That was it. Conner loved Tim, and he just didn't even realize it.

Superboy smiled.

"Boys are such idiots," Lois said as she flagged the waiter down for the check.

~~

"Come back!" Tim shouted into the comm system.

"I was expecting you to be in a food coma for at least two more hours," Jason said.

"I told you he'd wake up before now. Drake is predictable," Damian responded.

"Damian, don't talk about Tim that way, you know how he gets when he's upset," Dick commanded.

Tim started shouting at them, that this wasn't their business, and he was horrified that they would drive across country in a single night just to go and hunt down the guy that scorned him. He said it was probably just some sort of misunderstanding, but Jason alerted him that it was too late. The three of them had hit Smallville, and there was no turning back now. Tim's only play was to try to help Barbara talk them out of it.

"What do you think I'm trying to do," Barbara shouted.

"How far outside of Smallville are you?" Tim asked.

"At least another fifteen minutes. I've been trying to appeal to Dick all night. If I could just get him on my side then this could have been over by now. He's got sway over Damian, and he'd probably be able to talk Jason out of it, but for some reason, he's as hard headed about this as Jason is."

Tim slumped back into the chair. Kon was never going to forgive him for this. His brothers were going to siege his boyfriend's house in the middle of nowhere Kansas. 

"This is a nightmare," Tim said, his hands at his face. 

~~

"Thanks Lois," Conner said as he found a nice alleyway and took off into the sky. 

His destination was Gotham. He had some feelings to confess to. Looking back on it, it was so obvious to him, but he was just so worried about it that he couldn't understand. His panic attack was triggered because he actually loved Tim, because he couldn't believe that Tim would love him back. His smile was wide and bright, and the sky was perfectly blue. 

Flying across a small field, he scooped up some fresh wild flowers, the wind in his ears and the sound of motorcycles off in the distance. 

"Huh, there must be some motorcycle show going on," Kon said as he passed close to Smallville on his way to Gotham. 

~~

"Give us the clone and no one gets hurt," Jason said, microphone to his lips, and hand on his right side gun.

"It's the Kents, we've had them to our house for dinner. You don't need to shout at them through a megaphone," Dick pointed out.

"You're killing the mood, Dick."

"Perhaps it would help if you didn't hold the button down while you spoke to each other. They can hear you," Damian said, his voice, like the others, casted over the speaker attached to the bike.

"This is the worst siege I've ever been on," Jason said.

~~

"No, no, don't mind them Mr. and Mrs. Kent. They're just a bunch of idiots," Barbara said as she took the cup of tea Mrs. Kent made for her. She'd come around the back of the farm, clearly unseen by Jason, Dick, and Damian. 

"Conner hasn't been home all day, anyway. I assume they are just looking out for Tim in all this?"

"In their own special way," Barbara said with a smile. 

The three of them could hear Dick and Jason fighting over the megaphone, the piece still on and blaring their petty arguments at each other. It didn't bother their afternoon tea though.

~~

"So, you've got it under control?" Tim asked.

"It's done, Tim," Barbara said. "They're fighting with each other about who should break the door down, but I'm not worried they will finally agree on someone, so we're in the clear."

"Not to mention that we know how to mend a door, Tim," Jonathan said over the comm system. "We hope you get everything sorted with Conner. He's a good boy, but he can be a little hard headed sometimes."

"Thank you, Mr. Kent. I'm terrible sorry about all of this. If anything does happen, just let us know, and I'm sure Bruce will be able to cover the cost of it for you."

"Never you mind that, dear," Martha said. "Conner is in Metropolis with Clark, so when he gets back we'll make sure to put the pressure on him to call you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Kent," Tim said. 

Tim turned off the comm system, confident that if anything did come to fruition, Barbara would be able to tame Dick, Jason, and Damian before they did anything truly stupid. Looking down at his watch, he wondered what he should do. He would just have to wait to hear from Conner, so he could brood in the batcave for a while. It was a perfectly good place to brood.

"Ugh, stop feeling sorry for yourself," Tim said. "Where is the rest of that peanut butter....?"

~~

Conner stood in front of the giant door of Wayne Manor. It was sunset now. He took his time getting to Gotham, hoping that some great speech would come to him while he flew around, the place where he felt freest to be himself, of course though, no such luck graced him. The ombre colors of the sun spread across the horizon in a brilliant menagerie, but it didn't stop him from having that feeling in his chest.

He knew this is what he wanted, but something kept him from taking the plunge. Was he afraid? He wasn't sure that he'd been afraid of anything in the life he'd been allotted, but here, right now, standing on the doorstep of Tim Drake, he couldn't find words, could barely stand, weak at the knees. He raised his hand and poked the doorbell, the hollow chimes filled the interior of the mansion. He knew that if he didn't go for it right now, he'd over think it and just fly home, only making the problem worse for himself. He stood there, patiently, his hands shaking, and the bouquet of flowers slightly windblown.

After a few minutes, Conner thought of leaving, but finally there was a rattle on the door. It was the latch moving, and then the door cracked open, an eye in the slit.

"Hi," Conner said. Honestly, he couldn't tell which member of the family it was, but the height was too short to be Bruce or Dick.

The door slowly opened further, and Tim was standing in the open frame. He was silent, looking down at Kon's feet, before he met his gaze.

"Listen, I'm...I'm really sorry. I handled it so poorly," Kon said, extending the bouquet of flowers to Tim; it was just as awkward and forced sounding as he'd imagined it.

"You should have called me. You should have talked to me about it. I was worried that I blew it."

"You didn't blow it! Oh my god, Tim. No, it was me. I just freaked out, and honestly, I didn't even realize I was home until I was almost home. I thought I was still in the mansion for a while, I swear."

Tim opened the door further, leaning against the door frame. Kon could see that he wanted to forgive him so badly, but something was keeping him from doing so. Instead, he just asked, "Is that it?"

"I don't want to say it, not like this...."

"Say what?" Tim asked, somewhat confused.

"That I love you, too. I don't want to say it when you're mad at me, just to get back in your favor. I love you too, and I want it to really mean something!"

Tim grabbed the bouquet of flowers, and wrapped his arms around Kon, kissing him.

"You're so dumb sometimes," Tim said. "Next time, just talk to me about it instead of flying off in the middle of the night."

Tim lead Kon into Manor.

"It's awfully quiet," Kon mentioned off handedly.

"Oh shi...."

~~

"So, what have we learned?" Clark asked, holding Jason by his jacket, Damian by his cape, and Dick riding on his back.

"Think before we act?" Dick asked.

"Wait till he's home," Jason said under his breath.

"Never listen to Todd or Grayson ever again."

Superman sighed. It was gonna be a long trip back to Gotham.

~~

"Why is there an invoice from Smallville Lumber on my desk, Alfred?"


End file.
